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Trump’s Panama Project: how the story broke, and what happens next?

On
Friday November 17, 2017, millions of Americans tuned in to MSNBC to watch
Richard Engel, sitting in for Rachel Maddow, share the results of our joint investigation
into money laundering at the Trump Ocean Club in Panama.

We worked
with NBC and Reuters to show the world what really went on at the Trump Ocean
Club – all going live with our reporting at the same time. Millions of Americans
woke up to the news of Trump’s questionable licensing deal in Panama with an
early-morning teaser
clip of Richard Engel’s segment, which aired on NBC’s award-winning Today show.

Trump’s
daughter Ivanka Trump was front and center, as the Panama licensing deal was
seen as her “baby”. During the pre-construction period, she met with the
Brazilian-born alleged fraudster and fugitive Alexandre Ventura Nogueira many times,
according to Reuters. Ventura
Nogueira was one of the key brokers at the Trump Ocean Club and chalked up
nearly a third of the critical pre-construction unit sales.

Still,
in a letter from the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer Alan Garten to
Reuters, Garten claims that the organization and Trump family do not have “any
recollection of ever meeting or speaking with this individual.” Photos
of Ventura with Ivanka, and later Ventura with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, suggest a
different story.

Ventura
Noguiera wasn’t the only shady character involved in brokering, investing or
buying units at the Trump Ocean Club. Others include Colombian fraudster David
Murcia Guzmán, who recently completed a nine-year sentence in the US for
laundering millions of dollars' worth of illicit funds – including narcotics
proceeds – as well as Louis Pargiolas, who in
2009 pled guilty in a federal court in Miami to conspiracy to import cocaine, according to NBC.

Our investigation highlights several
red flags suggesting money laundering in the project, which should have raised
the alarm for a responsible businessperson looking to avoid being associated
with dirty money. But, even while profiting from every unit sold, Trump and his
children, Ivanka and Eric, appear to have turned a blind eye to the origin of
those funds.

So what were the key warning signs of
money laundering at the Trump Ocean Club? Our investigation shows that units were bought in bulk,
sometimes in cash and anonymously through bearer shares and secretly-owned companies.

A closer look behind the scenes

According
to Monte Friesner, a former, convicted money launderer who Richard Engel interviewed
for NBC, Ventura Noguiera was targeting “Russians with dirty money,” including
Russian mafia. Friesner goes on to rate the Trump Ocean Club a “Triple A” for
money laundering.

Ventura
Noguiera himself admits to Engel that some of the buyers had links to Russian
mafia – although he emphasizes he only learned that after the fact and that no
purchases were made in cash.

Friesner
says otherwise. “Half a dozen lawyers would come pick up a million dollars in a
satchel [at the Trump Ocean Club],” he asserts to Engel and stresses that Ventura
marketed it as a place for the corrupt to park their dirty money.

To
Friesner, the Trump Ocean Club was “cocaine concrete”, built off the backing of
drug money.

If you
missed this explosive edition of MSNBC’s On
Assignment with Richard Engel, you can watch the full broadcast below.

What happens next?

Global Witness is calling upon appropriate law
enforcement authorities, including Special
Counsel Robert Mueller,
and congressional committees (see here and here)
to investigate the allegations raised in this report and, if appropriate, hold
President Trump accountable for his actions.

As
interest on the Hill mounts, Congressman Jim McGovern has released a statement urging
further investigations from Congress, the Administration and Special Counsel Mueller
given the
serious allegations raised by this investigation.

These disturbing allegations warrant further investigation by Congress, the Administration & Special Counsel Mueller. The American people deserve transparency, disclosure, and accountability. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/Hz1zCYcpsj